CHAPTER 5

THE POSITIONS OF SOUTHERN POLITICAL PARTIES

The NSSP :
What follows is a statement by Mr. Vasudeva Nanayakkara NSSP Politbureau
member and NP (Sunday Observer 1st July).

He described LTTE as a fascist force which would
brook no dissent. He further said, "They came to an understanding with
this reactionary government. They seem to fit into one another well. But
even they had to fall out. Both had the Israelis as their collaborators
and well wishers.... ." He blamed the government for arming the LTTE and
putting them in power. When the LTTE and the army tried to exercise dual
power in the East it had to end up in conflict. It further said, "Our
party feel that the LTTE must be defeated by all democratic forces which
strive for civilised existence in the North and east.... . We also want
the government to be defeated in the South. We make no preference for the
government as against the LTTE.... . There is a lot of fury being focussed
against the Tamil people by certain elements who are trying to whip up Sinhala
passions against the Tamils. It is the duty of the civilised citizens to
protect the Tamils at this juncture.

The LTTE must come to an understanding with all Tamil
group and Tamil speaking Muslims which must be laid out as a pre-condition
for any kind of discussion for a ceasefire."

The NSSP continued to make representations both
in Parliament and privately about what was being done to the civilians in
the North-East.

The SLFP:
The position of SLFP, the leading opposition party and alternative government,
has been ambiguous. It supported the government in its bid to crush the
LTTE. It voted for the supplementary defence estimate. It also sent a
representative on the delegation to explain the conduct of the war to SAARC
countries. But when it came to voting for the extension of emergency powers
on the 19th July the party abstained. The party has found itself divided,
while some members pointed out that having gone so far, to refuse the government
the emergency powers to conduct the war, was meaningless. Thus the alternative
government found itself without a policy. Other left sources said that
at least 40 MPs from the SLFP had expressed a willingness to oppose the
government's position.

To trace the reasons for this confusion we go back
to a hard hitting speech made by Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaiake, the leader of
the opposition, in Parliament on 12th January, attacking the government's
human rights record. Mrs. Bandaranaiake is also challenging in court the
validity of the presidential elections. Extracts from the speech are quoted
from the Island of 13th January: " It is no secret that politically backed
para military hit squads continued to abduct and murder youth through the
length and breadth of our country. In the guise of combating subversion
thousands of SLFP members had been arrested, abducted or murdered by these
killer squads. Notwithstanding assurance by the government that these hit
squads would be brought to book, so far not a single person of these squads
had been brought to trial.

We know for a fact that the majority of security
forces and police personnel have had nothing to do with these gruesome gruesome
acts. On the contrary they do view dastardly acts with horror, but are constrained
due to political patronage enjoyed by the hit squads."

"..... Prior to their deployment these killer groups
have been provided with false army identity cards. They are also instructed
to contact UNP provincial council members to obtain the names of opposition
polling agents and destroy them. Certain lists of persons to be killed
had been given to these killer squads. These squads have also been put
in contact with the co-ordinating officers of various districts. The co-ordinating
officers have been given special orders from a high ranking officer at army
headquarters to co-operate with these groups and ask no questions. This
is the information that I have received.... ."

This speech shows that the opposition felt very
much threatened by the government's actions. Mrs. Bandaranaike as a past
prime minister would have had good sources within the security forces who
were sympathetic to her. It would have served both Tamil and Sinhalese
interests to give the opposition a free hand in challenging the government's
record. When the Tigers and the government clashed in June, Mrs. Bandaranaike
found herself bowing to a strong sentiment amongst upper, middle and lower-middle
class Sinhalese, that the Tamils should be defeated militarily.

`Sunday Times' of 22nd July reported what happened
at the meeting of the parliamentary group of the SLFP, to discuss voting
on the extension of the emergency on 19th July. Several influential MPs
including Nimal Siripala de Silva, Jayaraj Fernandopulle, Richard Pathirana,
Ananda Dassanayake, Lakshman Kiriella, S.B. Dissanayake and M.K.D.S. Gunawardena
were against the emergency. The Gampha district MP said the earlier slogan was
`kill Tamils' and today under the guise of `kill Tigers', Tamils are being
killed. He asked why the SLFP should involve itself in a government LTTE
fight?

Mr. Kiriella said that everyday 40 bodies were burning
on the road sides in Kandy and voting for the emergency would be condoning
these acts as well. He said that the party should not support the emergency
because of this.

Mr. S.L. Gunasekara, who spoke in favour of the emergency
said the SLFP voted in favour of a massive supplementary estimate (US $125
million) for the defence ministry to buy arms and ammunition. He asked
how the party could now vote against giving the security forces, the power
to use these weapons. The party leader Mr. Bandaranaike final decided that
as there were two points of view on the emergency, the party would abstain.

It is surprising that Mr.s Bandaranaike who well
understood the nature of the security forces decided to stand back and pretend
that a just and disciplined war was being conducted in the Tamil areas.
Having herself said that thousands of her supporters had been arrested,
abducted or murdered, she clearly had on her hands a human rights problem
affecting a very large section of her constituency. By legitimising the
actions of the armed forces in Tamil areas, the SLFP was not only letting
down this constituency, but was helping to whitewash one of the ugliest
periods of this country's history. By this stand of the SLFP, a large section
of the Sinhalese electorate that had been visited with terror, humiliation
and destitution was being left orphaned. What will we do when one day their
angry young men demand justice and accountability? Do we double the strength
of the security forces and increase defence expenditure to 40%? The SLFP stands in danger of finishing up a vestigial
adjunct to the UNP.. The feelings of those who have lost near and dear ones
cannot be assuaged by killing Tamils.

The only alternative open to the SLFP was to stand
firm on principle on the human rights issue and challenge the government's
moral authority and competence to assume responsibility for solving this
country's problems. As inexcusable as are the actions of the Tigers, anyone
who can accomplish some good must in the first place command moral authority
and goodwill.[Top]